U.S. operations in Afghanistan still rely heavily on petroleum-based fuels. |
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The strategy developed by her office is designed to give all the military services common guidance for operational energy planning, although Pentagon officials haven’t yet set specific goals.

But in a September report, the center recommended the military operate all of its systems on nonpetroleum fuels by 2040. While increased energy efficiency can produce short-term benefits without much investment upfront, the report said, it won’t be enough in the long run to provide sustainable energy security.

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“The Department of Defense must be prepared today to transition to a future without petroleum,” said Will Rogers, a research fellow at the center, an independent, nonpartisan think tank. “It’s not a small task.”

One of the major challenges will be to find ways to replace petroleum-based fuels in existing systems with suitable alternatives. For instance, the center noted in its report that such alternatives need to be consistently available on a global scale, perform at least as well as petroleum and be affordable.

The military is currently testing a variety of alternative fuel technologies, such as using oils from local crops in Afghanistan to power generators and waste-to-energy systems on Navy ships. And two defense contractors — BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman — are looking into using hybrid-electric drive technology on the Army’s new ground combat vehicle.

If these and other efforts pay off, “America will have a military that is better able to respond to any challenge or any threat anywhere in the world,” Burke said.

Imagine how much cheaper and more abundant fuel would be if the US Empire came home? Just imagine, how much more fuel would be available for us, if it was not being consumed by thousands of tanks, jets, drones, humvees, etc etc? Yet another reason to stop all these needless wars.

With all the wars the US is in - Iraq, Afghanistan. Libya, Yemen - you'd think at least one would be a green war. The military budget is huge - there ought to be room for thousands of green jobs, and boy do we need them now. I'm sure that there are advances in solar panels and wind turbines that can help support our troops. Why not use them now and stop all the carbon emissions these wars are forcing on the planet?

This is a cynical and ridiculous article. Where are the details? What are they going to do? Use opium poppies to fuel their vehicles?

This kind of simple-minded slavish green reporting is beneath POLITICO. The debate is this: Get out now!

What are you talking about, Politico gave us all the details that we need when they wrote "The operational energy strategy focuses on operating more efficiently, minimizing dependence on petroleum by using alternate fuels and new technologies such as solar power and cutting the cost of energy consumption, both in dollars and lives."

I can't wait until the Army introduces its new 80,000 pound solar powered tank. We can always use old french fry grease to power those stealth fighters. Maybe they can put little propellers and turbines on armored personnel carrier and we will have the first wind-powered infantry transportation vehicle. Maybe we can reconvene the parties to the Geneva convertion and come up with new polically correct approved war tactics. You know..... all fighting stops when the sun is blocked out by clouds, or the wind dies down.